Precocious 20-year-old American center back Matt Miazga, who we have just realized looks exactly like he could be Dejan Lovren's little brother, made his Premier League debut for Chelsea Saturday. Chelsea took on last-place Aston Villa (featuring Miazga's international teammate Brad Guzan in goal) and walloped them accordingly, 4-0.
It was a big moment for the youngster, but he comported himself well given that in an ideal world he would have either of Chelsea's most experienced center backs, John Terry or Gary Cahill, by his side during his debut. Both were injured.
Matt Miazga Chelsea Debut
My favorite part of that video is right around the 1:35 mark when Miazga sends a horrible long ball right to Guzan and then the camera zooms in on him and he has this shamed look on his face, like "oh no I did a bad thing."
He definitely needs to improve on the long ball, though that could be said for pretty much every center back except maybe Jerome Boateng, but he looked composed back there, aggressively winning headers when he had to and standing forwards up well.
The most promising thing I saw in Miazga's performance Saturday was his patience and vision in possession, long balls aside. He didn't do that thing that MLS defenders do when the ball comes to them and they panic and KICK IT! KICK IT REALLY HARD AAAAAGGHHH!
It was just Aston Villa, the current incarnation of which might be the worst Premier League side of all time, but a clean sheet against any Premier League team is nothing to blow your nose at.
This was the best possible scenario for Miazga's Premier League debut. Blowing a terrible opponent allowed him to get his feet wet and get a little taste of what the competition is like in England before he really gets thrown into the fire.
From the admittedly small sample size, it looks like he'll be fine when he does.
Contact The18 Staff Writer Sam Klomhaus at Klomhaus@The18.com or follow him on Twitter @SamKlomhaus
